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The polio vaccination drive in Gaza is exceeding expectations, the WHO mentioned Tuesday because it warned of the impacts of US funding cuts and pleaded for ramped-up medical evacuations.
Talking from Gaza, Rik Peeperkorn, the World Well being Group’s consultant within the Palestinian territories, gave an replace on a recent polio little one vaccination marketing campaign, and an outline of the well being and funding scenario within the Gaza Strip.
Polio vaccination
Poliovirus, most frequently unfold by means of sewage and contaminated water, is extremely infectious and doubtlessly deadly.
Because the illness resurfaced in Gaza for the primary time in over 20 years, paralyzing a 10-month-old little one final August, two vaccination rounds came about in September and October 2024.
They reached greater than 95 % of the kids focused with the required two doses of the oral vaccine.
However environmental samples from two websites, collected in December 2024 and January 2025, discovered poliovirus was nonetheless circulating.
A brand new polio vaccination marketing campaign concentrating on 591,000 youngsters below 10 started on Saturday. Almost 548,000 have been reached to this point, WHO mentioned.
Regardless of chilly and wet circumstances, dad and mom introduced their youngsters to vaccination facilities.
“That’s a remarkable achievement, and personally I didn’t think we would reach that,” mentioned Peeperkorn, citing excessive enthusiasm for the primary two rounds.
A fourth spherical of vaccinations is deliberate in 4 weeks’ time.
Medical evacuations
Between February 1 and 24, some 889 sufferers, together with 335 youngsters, have been evacuated through the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
The entire variety of sufferers evacuated since October 2023 is 6,295, together with 4,640 youngsters.
The WHO estimates that 10,000 to 14,000 crucial sufferers want medical evacuation, together with greater than 4,000 youngsters.
Peeperkorn hoped medical evacuations to Jordan would start quickly, and pleaded for expanded medical corridors, together with the pre-war conventional referral pathway to hospitals within the West Financial institution and East Jerusalem would resume, “otherwise we will be medevacing for years to come”.
Cash and US WHO pullout
The Gaza and West Financial institution Interim Fast Injury and Wants Evaluation, performed earlier this month collectively by the United Nations, the World Financial institution and the European Union, estimated that $7 billion might be wanted to restore the territory’s devastated well being system.
That quantity was break up between reconstruction prices and repair supply wants, with greater than $4 billion wanted within the first three years, it mentioned.
The WHO’s 2025 operational response plan for the Palestinian territories requires $648 million.
Peeperkorn additionally warned that the US pullout from the WHO meant the company may not allocate some $46 million deliberate to be used in Gaza, principally this 12 months.
This, he mentioned, would go away explicit areas underfunded, specifically: procurement of provides; enabling emergency medical groups; associate coordination together with gas; rehabilitation; medevac, and safety.
“It would have been so incredibly helpful in 2025. We could have used money for these areas,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the WHO may go “full steam ahead” for now, because it nonetheless had $40-60 million within the pipeline, however warned that wanted to stretch “for the whole of 2025, and then 2026 and beyond”.
Hospitals
Peeperkorn mentioned 18 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals have been partly purposeful, as have been 59 of the 144 major well being care facilities. Seven smaller subject hospitals are additionally operational.
Gaza had greater than 3,500 hospital beds earlier than the struggle; that quantity went all the way down to 1,110 and “now it’s probably back to 1,500”.
WHO hopes to get a pre-fabricated hospital into Gaza by March.
“Maybe there’s not a need to rebuild all those 36 hospitals but focus on the ones which are absolutely needed, and make sure that you strengthen primary health care and the referral pathway,” mentioned Peeperkorn.
Well being staff
Peeperkorn insisted the well being service and infrastructure in Gaza “has not collapsed”, as an alternative retaining partial or minimal performance.
“I really credit that to the resilience of the Gaza health workers,” he mentioned.
Gaza had round 25,000 well being staff earlier than the struggle. Peeperkorn mentioned many senior medical specialists had fled and he hoped a sustained ceasefire would see numbers return.
He mentioned he had heard stories that 40 to 50 % of the unique well being staff have been nonetheless at their posts.
© 2025 AFP
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WHO hails Gaza polio marketing campaign however warns on US pullout (2025, February 25)
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